The Marshfield Clinic family is committed to making a positive impact on our patients and our community. We are here every step of the way to support you in making the best decisions about your health and wellbeing, from research and prevention to diagnosis and treatment. So you won't only live your life, but shine.

Applied Sciences - Industry

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Marshfield Clinic's licensing process is designed to put the inventions of Marshfield Clinic physicians, scientists and staff to work for the maximum benefit of society.

We share in the development risk by requiring a reasonable license fee and a royalty that is received only after a product or process is being sold or otherwise used. Because of Marshfield Clinic's private, nonprofit status, it can offer its licensees confidentiality, which can be very important when dealing with new product and process development issues.

Marshfield Clinic is organized to make licensing convenient and straightforward. Through the Alliance partnership with Cleveland Clinic Innovations, companies work with experienced licensing managers recruited from industry. We also work with you to custom tailor an agreement to meet the company's specific needs.

Licensing typically involves three expenses:

A license fee

Patent reimbursement costs

Royalties

The license fee and the patent reimbursement costs are due after the agreement is executed, while royalties are due when a product is commercialized and sold. Because each technology has a different market value, the exact dollar amounts of these costs are negotiated on a case by case basis.

The advantages of licensing a Marshfield Clinic technology can be improved time to market, creating increased profit opportunities, greatly reduced R&D costs, and opportunity to enter new markets and expand your company quickly. We license out intellectual property that can be developed into commercial products, rather than selling the products themselves.

For more informa​tion about Marshfield Clinic's technology portfolio, patents or interest in clinical research capabilities, please call 800-782-8581, ext. 93436.​

Sponsored research

Industry sponsored research and development at Marshfield Clinic typically involve two agreements. The first is a research agreement between Marshfield Clinic and the sponsoring company, which defines the scope of the project. Often, a second agreement, called a sponsor option agreement, is negotiated between Marshfield Clinic and the company at the same time. The sponsor option agreement defines the licensing rights of the company to any intellectual property that may emerge from the sponsored research.

Sponsored or collaborative research is managed through
Marshfield Clinic Research Institute​ and one of its five Centers including clinical research, agricultural health and safety, epidemiology, human genetics, and biomedical informatics. MCRI​ can provide a range of support services for physician and scientist investigators, including biostatistics, protocol and grant preparation, research publication and core laboratory support.

Approximately 450 clinical trials and other research projects are active at any one time. Marshfield Clinic investigators publish extensively in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals addressing a wide range of diseases and other health issues, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, eye disease, neurological disease, pediatrics, radiology, women's health, agricultural safety and genetics.